M4 Mac mini: Launch date, specs, design, value

Apple’s M3 chip has been accessible because the finish of October 2023. It options within the MacBook Professional M3 and iMac and was lately added to the MacBook Air, however it’s nonetheless absent from the Mac mini. How lengthy will we now have to attend for Apple to roll out the M3 to the remainder of the vary? Or will Apple skip it and determine to launch a brand new Mac mini with an M4 chip?

This text is designed that will help you determine what’s coming within the new variations of the Mac mini. We’ll focus on whether or not Apple will skip the M3 and bounce straight to the M4 sequence and we’ll take a look at the rumors a few redesign. We’ve gathered all the data from rumors and experiences in a single spot and can present perception as to what’s possible and what’s not.

We’ll replace this text every time new data turns into accessible.

See our MacBook Professional M3 overview and our MacBook Professional M3 Professional overview. We even have an iMac M3 overview and M3 MacBook Air overview.

Apple launched the M2 & M2 Professional Mac mini again in January 2023. Earlier than that, the M1 Mac mini was launched in November 2020. That’s over two years between the M1 and M2 Mac mini, however the Covid pandemic affected manufacturing. Now, as we strategy one other two years between updates the massive query is when will Apple replace the Mac mini?

The excellent news is that it appears to be like like Apple will launch the M4 Mac mini this fall, maybe at an Apple Occasion in October.

On plenty of events, Bloomberg’s Marc Gurman has reported {that a} M4 Mac mini shall be launched earlier than the top of 2024. In August 2024, Gurman reported that the M4 Mac mini shall be launched in 2024.

It’s additionally instructed that the M4 chip will ship “instantly,” whereas the M4 Professional mannequin received’t be accessible till late October.

In August, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that one of many Macs will get a “dramatic change” in its design together with its M4 replace. Although Gurman didn’t particularly say that the Mac mini was going to be the Mac with the brand new design, the Mac mini has had its design for six years, resulting in hypothesis that the M4 Mac mini might be the Mac being referenced.

The present Mac mini includes a square-shaped exterior design that’s just below 8 by 8 inches. Studies counsel that the brand new Mac mini might be the same dimension to the Apple TV set prime field which is sort of half the scale at just below 4 by 4 inches

If the brand new Mac mini shrinks to the scale of the Apple TV the brand new dimensions might be:

• Apple TV: 3.7 by 3.7 by 1.2 inches (93 by 93 by 31 millimeters)
• Mac mini: 7.75-by-7.75-by-1.41 inch (19.7-by-19.7-by-3.6 centimeter)

The redesign may make the Mac mini extra transportable. It might even be inconvenient for these utilizing Mac mini’s in supercomputer set ups, which Apple as soon as advised us was why they didn’t redesign the Mac mini sooner. One other drawback of a redesign is that it’s going to probably imply fewer ports, together with the lack of the USB-A ports presently a function of the Mac mini.

Whereas we don’t anticipate any value changes within the U.S. costs will probably be introduced into line exterior the U.S. Over the previous couple of years Apple has been adjusting costs throughout its ranges following earlier value hikes. This can be a good signal for U.Ok. buyers hoping to buy a brand new M4 Mac mini. Presently, the worth begins at $599/£649, however we anticipate that the brand new mannequin will begin at $599/£599, which matches the advanced equation Apple has lately been utilizing for changing U.S. {dollars} to U.Ok. kilos.

Subsequently we anticipate the next costs:

• M4 Mac mini, 256GB: $599/£599 (down from £649)
• M4 Mac mini, 512GB: $799/£799 (down from £849)
• M4 Professional Mac mini, 512GB: $1,299/£1,299 (down from £1,399)

In April 2024 Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman acknowledged that Apple plans to skip the M3 and replace the Mac mini with an AI-enhanced M4 chip within the second half of 2024.

Jason Cross / Foundry

Jason Cross / Foundry

Jason Cross / Foundry

The present Mac mini runs on both an M2 or M2 Professional chip. Because it’s launch, Apple has launched the M3, M3 Professional and M3 Max chips, with all three chips arriving in October 2024 within the MacBook Professional. Different Macs, together with the MacBook Air and iMac, run on M3 chips, however none of Apple’s different desktop Macs have been up to date to make use of M3-series chips regardless of them being accessible.

Apple’s failure to replace its desktop Macs, and Macs which have a pro-focus at that, with the brand new Professional and Max chips is a shock that should certainly point out that one thing even higher is coming to the Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Professional. Both that or the corporate has given up on desktops.

So what’s anticipated from the M4? Properly we all know what the M3, M3 Professional and M3 Max supply. We’ve got additionally seen the M4 within the 2024 iPad Professional, the place Apple highlighted that the M4 included “next-generation ML accelerators”.

• M3: 3nm chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 8GB unified reminiscence (16GB and 24GB choices)
• M3 Professional: 11 or 12 core CPU, 14 or 18 GPU cores, 18GB unified reminiscence (36GB choice)
• M3 Max: 14 or 16 core CPU, 30 or 40 GPU cores, 36GB or 48GB unified reminiscence (64GB or 128GB choice)
• M4 (iPad Professional): As much as 10 cores and 10-core GPU utilizing “subsequent technology GPU structure” and “quickest Neural Engine ever”, in response to Apple.

As for the M4, there’ll apparently be AI enhancements. However, it’s attainable that the M4 may have related CPU and GPU specs because the M3, however with a bigger Neural Engine and extra unified reminiscence.

Past that, there’s a suggestion, from Mark Gurman, that the M4 Macs will function 16GB as commonplace, slightly than the 8GB choice that’s been the baseline for years. There may be as much as 36GB of unified reminiscence accessible for the M3 Professional, it’s not identified if this shall be improved within the M3 Professional.

The M4 shall be made utilizing the 3-nanometer course of launched with the M3. The 3nm course of permits extra transistors to suit on a chip, which ought to present a efficiency enhance. It additionally provides higher energy effectivity, so the temperature issues required for the M1 or M2 Mac mini shouldn’t be the identical as a result of the newer chip shouldn’t get as sizzling.

There ought to be a giant leap in graphics energy in comparison with the M2 and M2 Professional. Even the M3 GPU is quicker and extra environment friendly and options Dynamic Caching, a brand new expertise that brings options like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading to the Mac.

For extra data examine how the totally different generations of Mac processors examine.

If the rumors that the Mac mini can have a smaller dimension are right, that might imply that the Mac mini received’t supply a number of the ports the present Mac mini provides.

Apple

Apple

Apple

In September 2024, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that the M4 Mac mini can have 5 USB-C ports, two on the entrance and three on the again. Nevertheless, there could solely be three USB-C ports on the brand new fashions, as Gurman has additionally instructed that fashions being examined function three USB-C ports, an influence connector, an HDMI port and ethernet. One factor appears clear: the brand new Mac mini won’t have USB-A ports.

The opportunity of a five-port Mac mini was probably confirmed on September 16, when a new 5-port Mac mini noticed in Apple’s macOS 15 code. Assuming the 5 ports are all USB-C which will imply there are 5 USB-C ports coming, however probably on the expense of different ports.

When Apple launched the M1 Mac mini in 2020, the corporate reconfigured the ports in order that it had two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports as an alternative of the 4 that had been on the Intel-based Mac mini.

The M2 Mac mini already has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, however Apple may go for Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-FI 7 after the Wi-Fi Alliance made the usual official at first of January.